


Soulmates

by dralexreid



Series: Dr Piper Bishop [30]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27058615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dralexreid/pseuds/dralexreid
Relationships: Dr Spencer Reid/Dr Piper Bishop
Series: Dr Piper Bishop [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972852
Kudos: 19





	Soulmates

Two police cars wailed into an affluent neighbourhood in Florida as a young woman with skin the colour of melted dark chocolate and a tight, high ponytail worried about a serial killer in their midst with her friends, only to find that the police accused her own father of the cruel misdeeds. Detective Drew Lisbon exited the vehicle, twirling handcuffs in his right hand. “William Harris, you’re under arrest for the kidnapping of Missy Dewald and the murder of 3 women. You have the right to remain silent.”

“You have a warrant?” Lisbon waved the document in his face before directing the officers into the house as a large SUV pulled up behind him and the team stepped out.

“Drew! What are you doing?” Piper hissed at him, pulling him away from the scene.

“Got tired of waiting.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Emily stepped forward between them. “You can look all you want. Missy Dewald isn’t here.”

“We’ll see about that.” Piper scoffed, dragging Emily into the SUV.

Back at the precinct, Piper sat perched on a table as Drew walked in with their unsub and a crushed face.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Piper chided him, out of earshot from the others.

“I’m sorry, you didn’t convince me,” he said exasperated.

“I shouldn’t have to. Your chief asked my team to come here, we offered our professional opinion and instead of respecting it, you decided to raid his house.” Piper glared at him as she aggressively pointed towards the house and as she finished, he almost recoiled. “And you found absolutely nothing. Just like we told you.” She spat at him before storming off, running a hand through her hair as she sat outside in the heat. She felt comfort wash over her as Spencer brushed up against her, offering a bottle of water and a hair tie. Piper snorted, accepting both gratefully.

“I’m sorry,” he offered, and she gave him a confuddled look. “Can’t be easy. Working with…him.” Piper laughed mirthlessly. Unconsciously, her tongue peeked out from between her lips as she started to rant.

“My ex? Yeah, I’d still hit that. Except for this time, it would be with a car or baseball bat.” She chuckled at Spencer’s shock at her threat. “You know, when I met him, he couldn’t even meet my eyes. Couldn’t even talk to me for like 5 minutes without stuttering or getting nervous.” She shrugged, saying she’d thought it was adorable at first, but then his demeanour transformed completely. “I don’t know what happened, but 2, maybe 3, weeks later, he was this confident, self-assured person.” She tapped the water bottle with her pastel blue painted nails. Spencer’s heart broke at her self-deprecative humour about how stupid she was to not see it coming. “Some profiler I am, huh?” She scoffed, tucking away a stray strand of hair.

“Hey,” he called softly, bumping shoulders. “So, you misjudged him. That doesn’t make you a bad profiler. You know, our experiences make us better profilers.” Piper chuckled.

“There a statistic for that?”

“Probably.” Piper mock winced hand over her heart.

“The Doctor Spencer Reid doesn’t have a statistic? No, this _has_ to be the end of the world.” Spencer just elbowed her in the rib, telling her to shut up.

“How about I make you a deal?”

“I’m listening.”

“You come in and work this case with me and I promise you won’t even have to _talk_ to Detective Douchebag.” Piper laughed, glancing at his outstretched hand, her abysmal misery transformed into everlasting cheer. As Drew let himself be lectured by SSA Aaron Hotchner, he noticed Piper looking a lot more cheerful next to the tall brunet.

Scoffing, he retaliated. “Look, Agents. We have a witness who can place him at the abduction site. He has a history of similar offences where he did use the same MO in Atlanta. He fits your profile– a high-functioning successful family man living and working in the area. We had probable cause to make the arrest.”

“Yes, but that’s not enough to prosecute him. You should know that.”

“Well, _maybe_ we should stop dragging the department and focus on breaking Harris,” Drew said, mocking weariness as he headed for the interrogation room until Morgan stopped him.

“I don’t think so. We’ll handle the interrogation. You can sit back and look pretty, Lisbon.” Morgan said, smirking as Lisbon left and turned to Hotch. “The key to finding Melissa could be in his house.”

“So, we’re gonna need to dig through his life,” Hotch said, pulling out his cell. “Reid and Bishop can go over that. Morgan and Rossi, you two interrogate him. I’ll get Prentiss to talk to the detective that arrested him for the Atlanta rapes. Find out what went right and what went wrong with their approach,” Hotch said before he left as Morgan and Rossi observed their unsub.

“All right. He holds his victims for 2 days before he kills them. Missy disappeared yesterday. So as long as he stays in custody, there’s a good chance she could still be alive,” Rossi told him.

“Williams is a successful litigator, so we’re gonna need some leverage, somethin’ to throw him off guard.”

“A discrepancy in a previous statement, that’s enough to give us the upper hand.”

“What are the odds we can get him to break in the next 12 hours?”

“That’s not gonna be easy,” Rossi sighed heavily as he flung the door open, walking in with a confident demeanour.

In another room, Spencer gratefully accepted the coffee Piper offered while he asked Garcia whether she was ready. “You find anything?”

 _“Give me a minute. I will find the grime.”_ Spencer smiled softly at Garcia as Piper settled down in the chair next to him, turning on William Harris’s computer.

“All right, Pen. You ready to start searching his computer?” Piper asked, lightly smirking.

“Born ready.”

“You seem to be in control,” Spencer whistled at the multiple programs being searched, courtesy of Garcia.

 _“I’m always in control, sweet cheeks._ ” Spencer blushed and Piper smacked her forehead before hissing, why would you set her up for that?

“So far, William Harris appears to be quite intelligent,” Piper said through a chuckle. “He’s covering his tracks pretty well.”

 _“Yeah, just because you delete your history, it doesn’t mean all your dirty cyber-laundry isn’t hanging out there for me to find on your hard drive. Rookie mistake.”_ Piper smiled at Garcia’s confidence, but the smile faded as her eyes flitted to Drew’s through the window, which Spencer noticed.

“Hey, we need to comb through his life. We should uh… get started on that timeline.” Piper managed to nod slowly; her voice lodged in her throat. Downing another water bottle, Piper got to work, mechanically putting together the puzzle pieces of William Harris’s life story until Garcia shrieked through the monitor.

“ _I found something! Beneath all the icky lawyering, there are a_ ton _of untraceable journal entries._ ” Piper nodded, her mind shifting back on track. “ _Faxing to you right…about…now.”_ Spencer and Piper just blinked at the 15 pages of journal entries, all from just the last 2 weeks.

“I guess we’ll start from the earliest?” Piper said, uncertainty laced in her laughter. And so, they pinned up each journal entry. Spencer managed to get through them all in a little under 10 minutes while Piper broke down each sentence he highlighted. Except something bugged her. Turning, she grabbed a red and blue pen, annotating each idiosyncratic phrase. As she went through each journal entry, her eyebrows unknotted, and she turned on her heel. “Spence, are you seeing what I’m seeing?” He looked up from the next entry. Studying the new markings, he popped his head out of the room and yelled for Rossi. As the latter entered, so did Lisbon, and Piper took in a deep breath for the plunge.

“We were able to differentiate between 2 distinct voices, 2 authors,” Spencer spoke rapidly, gesturing with his hands. “I found various idiosyncratic words, phrases, punctuation, and orthography within the blog entries consistent with each separate person—”

“Words like ‘soda’ and ‘pop’,” Piper interrupted.

“Yeah, one guy uses dashes while the other uses ellipses,” Spencer snickered as Piper tried to ignore Drew’s unwanted commentary.

“Where’d you find this guy?” He whispered to Rossi behind Spencer’s back. While Piper fumed, Rossi retaliated in his best fashion.

“He was left in a basket on the steps of the FBI.” Spencer turned back around, oblivious to the conversation between the agent and the detective.

“One side of the discourse made a reference to the devil’s strip,” Spencer continued, having highlighted the relevant phrase.

“What the hell’s that?”

“It’s that small patch of grass that separates the sidewalk from the street,” Spencer revealed “And that term is only ever used in central Ohio. Though William lived in Atlanta for 20 years, he grew up in Columbus. The other guy uses words like ‘turnpike’ and ‘filling the gas tank.’”

“They’re both specific regionalisms for Florida,” Piper finished as Rossi tried to put the pieces together.

“So, what’s the relationship?” Rossi asked.

“Listen to this. ‘I can’t remember the last time I smiled for so long that it hurt. I’ve never felt like this before,’” Piper read out from her entry. “Sounds _very_ affectionate, if you know what I mean,” she said, handing the entry to Rossi without making eye contact with Drew.

“But there’s another theory,” Spencer added before he could leave, motioning for Piper to continue. She licked her lips, hesitating before continuing.

“When two unsubs share the same desires, the same attractions, they become…close,” she said, searching for the most appropriate words. “Basically, if William found someone else who shared the same desires that are shunned by society, they share an almost unbreakable bond, as close as a husband and wife.”

“What, now you think there’s a partner?” Lisbon scoffed.

“If there is,” Piper said pointedly, “then Missy Dewald is in unimaginable danger.” Her fear was confirmed by a reporting uniformed officer, confirming Missy’s death. Piper sat down; eyes closed. _Too late. Too late again._

While the others left to the dumpsite, Piper rubbed her face with her hands, trying to make sense of the chaos unfolding before her. “We know partners usually have dominant and submissive personalities and accounting for Harris’s arrogance, he’s most likely the dominant.” She looked up as Spencer held both pens in the same hand, narrowing his eyes at the printed text. His gaze didn’t falter until he felt a warm hand press on his arm.

“It’s all so cryptic.”

“Your handwriting or the text?” Piper joked. “Talk to me, Spence. We know they enjoyed being together. What else do you see?

“They wrote a cluster of others right after the first victim, Kim Groves was killed.”

“Right, so after killing Kim Groves, they probably tried to relive that feeling through these letters.”

“It all seemed so hopeless, but I finally learned to rise above it. Sounds like William confessed he was feeling incomplete.”

“That adds up, they didn’t start killing until they met.”

“Yeah, well the longer they got away with it, the stronger their relationship.”

“Sounds like these two aren’t just obsessed with rape and murder. They’re addicted to one another,” Piper pointed out as her cell buzzed. “Yeah, Em, you’re on speaker. Spencer’s here with me.”

“ _His partner’s a biter.”_ Spencer’s eyebrows flew up as Piper’s narrowed.

“Partner changed his behaviour after Harris was arrested,” Spencer said, nodding.

“ _Probably did is as a forensic countermeasure, trying to push the blame on someone else…”_

“Or he finally found the freedom to…experiment with his M.O.”

_“Garcia checked dental records against other cases. She found a reported rape in Manatee County earlier this year. Connie Mayers described an anger-excitation rapist just like William.”_

“So, we’re looking at 2 dominant personalities,” Piper realised, passing the phone to Spencer as she scribbled on the board.

“Makes sense. They have a similar discourse. They’re equally well-written,” Spencer noted.

“If their personalities are the same, their lives probably mirror one another’s as well,” Piper called out.

“Harris goes to church, on the board of the PTA, coaches his daughter’s soccer team, rarely drinks. Like a saint with a dark side. That’s what he connected to in the partner.”

_“Hotch wants to go talk to the family, see if they know who it might be. He wants you to talk to the daughter. I should be back in time for lunch. I was thinking we go Mexican. You guys in?”_

“Only if you get me a burrito. Thanks, Em.” Spencer tossed the cell to Piper who slipped it in her pocket, and they returned to the diary entries. “Two alpha males are gonna be hard to break.” Piper mused.

“His partner wrote, “faith should never be broken.” A betrayal could devastate him.”

“All we have to say is that William’s cooperating…” Piper caught on, “and then hope he takes the bait.” They moved to their respective duties, one to the interrogation room, relaying their findings to Morgan and Rossi, the other on a bike headed to a broken home.

While Hotch managed the mother, Piper sat outside with William’s daughter. She tried to introduce herself, but Andrea kept up her walls. “Look, I don’t want to arrest your dad.”

“Really, then why did you?”

“Because the department was sick of waiting. The lead detective, he’s a douchebag. He didn’t listen to us, made the arrest anyway.”

“Does it matter? You still think he did it, even though they found Missy.”

“Listen, Andrea, the minute we see the evidence going somewhere else, we _will_ release your father. But for now, he has to stay in custody.” Piper sighed. “Look. Right now, we think someone else is out there, but my colleagues are convinced that your father’s still responsible. I don’t know if your father’s innocent or not but right now, more girls are in danger. Girls that are almost your age.” She felt Andrea relent, a small gap between her shield. “Just listen to who we’re looking for. I’m sure you’ll recognise him. He’s probably white, around your father’s age, active in the community, probably has his own family. And there’s a good chance he’s gonna check up on you.”

“And why would he do that?”

“He’s worried about your dad, but he has no way of communicating with him. You and your mom are the next best thing.” Andrea scoffed.

“You like where you live?”

“Sure. DC’s nice.”

“Yeah, well so was this place until my dad got arrested. Now it’s just like Atlanta. Everyone thinks my dad’s guilty, and it’ll just get worse.” Andrea said bitterly, crossing her arms.

“What if you help us prove he isn’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your father was arrested this morning. Then later this afternoon, we found Missy’s body.”

“Which means he didn’t do it! So, let him go!”

“We could, but that wouldn’t prove it to your neighbours. Or to your friends. Tell me, what happened after your father’s charges were dropped in Atlanta? Did people believe your father wasn’t guilty of those rapes?” Andrea sat silently. “I know what a father means to his daughter, and I wish I could make this easier for you.” Piper pulled out a card from her inner pocket. “If you know someone who matches the description, call. Please. Before we have to find someone else dead.” Piper got up and joined Hotch outside.

“You get through to her?”

“We’ll find out,” Piper remarked, putting on her helmet.

Piper walked into the precinct, searching for a familiar face, only to see an unpleasant one. “Piper…” She made to walk past him, except he held her wrist in a vice-like grip. Without looking back, she twisted his arm behind his back, slamming his head on the table, hissing in his ear.

“Don’t touch me.” She let him go and walked off to find Spencer and Emily. “What’d you guys get so far?” she asked as Emily tossed her a burrito.

“Uh, we were surprised that you injected yourself into the investigation. You risked a lot in order to help William. And killing Missy tells us how close you really are. It must be devastating to learn that William is here with us,” Spencer read out as Piper unwrapped the foil around her burrito.

“He’s not gonna like that, what if he unravels?”

“What do you mean?” came a voice behind her, and she turned on her heel to see Hotch standing behind them.

“Just that if he reads that and tries to retaliate, he can’t hurt Harris. He could hurt his family instead.” Hotch nodded. “Let me go keep an eye on the family. Give me an undercover vehicle I can see from.”

“I don’t have anyone to spare if something—”

“I’ll be fine, Hotch, seriously.” They all moved into the observation room while Piper left in a simple, dark blue sedan with tinted windows.

As she waited patiently outside the neighbourhood, she watched a couple of kids spray-painting their car. She furrowed her eyebrows and raised her binoculars to observe the tall, white man running outside, then comforting Mrs Harris. She dialled Garcia as she kept watching, telling him of a possible suspect. “I need a background check of Harris’s neighbourhood.”

“ _Sure thing, sweetheart. I’m gonna need some parameters.”_

“He’s white, the early 40s, probably owns his own business. He’s either got a good steady job, or he owns his own business. He’s lived in Florida his entire life, wife and kids.”

“ _So the ideal American household?”_ Piper laughed. “ _Hey, how are you by the way? Haven’t checked back in in a while.”_

 _“_ As fine as you can be working with a douche ex.”

“ _Well, at least you’re not stuck with him now right.”_

“Yeah, thank God for that. You get anything?”

“ _Yep. So, we have 7 white males living in close proximity, 5 married with children, 2 born and raised in the Sunshine State, 1 on disability payments and 1 owns a real estate business, Steven Baleman, and oh my god. Pipes, he lives right next door.”_

“Okay, let Hotch know and I’ll keep an eye on him. Thanks, Pen. You’re a legend.” Piper slipped the cell in her pocket, pulling up a vest from the back seat and tying her hair up. She started the car as he stormed out of the house, watching Angela follow him. “No, no, don’t do it.” As she followed slowly, keeping them in sight, Piper dialled Hotch.

“ _What’s happening?”_

“Steven’s left the house, Angela’s following him, I’m a few miles behind them. I may need backup.”

“ _I’ll have a squad car come to your coordinates. There should be a radio somewhere in there. Do not confront him. Understand me?”_

“Thanks, Hotch.” She kept driving, cursing as the road came to an end near the port. Piper waited for them to turn the corner before she got out, following them quietly. _Shit_. She cursed under her breath when Steven took Andrea inside, keeping a vice-like grip on her. There was still no sign of the squad car and the two had disappeared into a warehouse, the door still slightly ajar. Under her breath, she spoke into the radio pinned to her vest. “Steven has taken Andrea into a warehouse. Do you copy?”

 _“Yeah, we hear you Pipes.”_ The radio crackled and she felt herself relax slightly at the sound of Spencer’s voice. “ _Orders are still to stand down.”_

“What’s the plan?”

“ _We got Mrs Harris to come in, Morgan’s putting in seeds of doubt, charges are gonna be dismissed in a half-hour.”_

 _“_ Spencer, I can’t wait that long,” she hissed. “Steven has Andrea.”

“ _Piper, it’s Hotch. If you see something, intervene, but until then, stand down. Getting Steven means nothing if Harris goes free.”_ Piper hummed her agreement and waited, keeping a subtle eye on the events inside. So far, he’d only strapped Andrea to the chair. Under the cover of darkness, Piper watched William approach the warehouse, reminding her of a mouse trying to grab at cheese, making sure no cats were nearby. She checked her wristwatch, smiling mirthlessly. _Right on time._

She felt Spencer, Derek and Emily brush up against her and they skirted in front of the warehouse while Rossi and Lisbon listened to the conversation occurring inside using the parabolic mics on top of the van. After about 10 minutes, they heard Rossi give them the signal and Derek did what Derek does best; he kicked open the doors to the warehouse. As Derek and Emily took the lead in apprehending Steven and William, Piper and Spencer secured Angela, delivering her to her mother. Piper wrapped an arm around Spencer’s torso, leaning her head on his chest as they watched the mother and her daughter leave. Eventually, Hotch called for them and they moved towards his voice. But Drew’s voice made her hang back. She turned around to face him. “What do you want, Drew?”

“Nothing. Just… uh…”

“Jesus, Drew, spit it out. We both know your whole stutter’s just an act.” Drew poked at his cheek with his tongue, eyeing Reid’s stare from behind Piper.

“I’m uh… I’m glad you’re happy, with him. But you could have told me.”

“Told you what?” Piper followed his gaze to Spencer whose neck snapped to face Hotch very conspicuously. She turned back to Drew with a raised eyebrow.

“You could have told me you loved someone else. That’s why you broke up with me right?”

“Drew. I’m not gonna say this again. I broke up with you because you wanted me to drop my job, here, doing what matters just to soothe your ego.”

“I never asked—” He waited for the others to pass before continuing. “I never asked you to do that for my _ego_. I did that for us. So, we could be together, like a normal couple.”

“No. No, don’t— don’t do that.” Piper’s eyes welled up. “You always do that. You make me out to be the idiot, the fool. I’m not falling for it. You offered me an ultimatum. You told me to move to Florida or give you up. That’s not normal. That’s toxic. And as for my happiness, that’s because I left you, not because of anyone else. Goodbye, Drew.” She turned on her heel, charging towards their SUV.

^-^

Piper was packing her bag for the flight tomorrow morning when she heard a knock on the door. Closing her bag, she opened the door to see Emily and Jordan at the door. “What’s up girls?”

“We’re celebrating,” Emily announced, holding up drinks from the minibar.

“Why?” Emily gave Jordan a look as she pulled out three glasses.

“For shutting the door on Drew.”

“Yeah, that guy was a piece of work.” Emily laughed, pushing a drink over to Piper.

“We have a flight tomorrow. One drink and then bed,” Piper warned as she took a sip of her cognac. But Emily was already on her third shot. A few hours later, Jordan had helped Piper drag Emily to her own room and lay her in bed. “You celebrate too hard, Em.” Piper chuckled to herself as she tucked Emily in unconsciously.

“And you,” she slurred. “You don’t celebrate at all.” Piper chuckled.

“Yes, I do.”

“Reeeally? When’s the last time you had a drink with me?” Piper’s smile faded. “Seeeee. You should…” Emily smacked her lips and tried shaking the drowsiness away. “You should celebrate more.” Piper smiled softly as Emily promptly fell asleep.

“You are gonna hate yourself in the morning.” Piper murmured and she kissed Emily’s forehead before leaving for her own room. She lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the darkness to swallow her.


End file.
